Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

"SHOUSHI" CHARITABLE FOUNDATION CALLS ON TO ASSIST NKR IN ACTING AS NEGOTIATING PARTY

Noyan Tapan

Nov 10, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 10, NOYAN TAPAN. "Shoushi" Charitable Foundation
calls on all the interested political organizations and NGOs as well
as private persons to assist with restoration of the violated rights of
the people of Nagorno Karabakh, that is, to assist the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic in acting as a negotiating party in the settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh problem, the foundation’s manager, writer, publicist
Bakur Karapetian stated at the November 10 press conference. In his
words, with this aim the foundation will form "In the Name of Justice"
movement. B. Karapetian said that after the Karabakh war, the political
elite of Armenia was caught in a diplomatic trap set by Azeraijan and
Turkey, and the Republic of Armenia acts as a conflict party during
negotiations. "After all, one must not forget that the ceasefire was
signed by the representatives of Azerbaijan and the NKR as in reality
these countries are waging war against each other," he said.

According to B. Karapetian, if the NKR is accepted as a conflict and
negotiating party, then, by the documents of a number of international
organizations, Azerbaijan will suffer a serious diplomatic defeat
because the right of free self-determination is the universal norm
of international law.

TURKEY BENEFITTED MORE

Lragir.am
16:08:49 – 08/11/2008

The reporters asked Kiro Manoyan, the head of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun
Bureau office for political affairs and Hay Dat, hosted at the De Facto
press club on November 8 if Armenia has benefitted from Gul’s Armenian
visit or Turkey. Kiro Manoyan said it would not be exactly true to say
that Armenia did not benefit at all but at the same time it would not
be exactly true to say that Turkey did not benefit more. Kiro Manoyan
underlined that the Armenian government is responsible for this, which
was unable to present the initiative to the world appropriately, and it
appeared as if good faith on behalf of Gul to come to Armenia rather
than the initiative of Armenia.

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER QUOTED ON RELATIONS WITH EU, ITALY, RUSSIA
by Vittorio Da Rold

Il Sole 24 Ore, Milan
Nov 5 2008
Italy

Marseilles – "The Turkish Government will not deviate from its
strategic aim of forcefully working for Turkey’s admission to the
European Union notwithstanding the criticism in the EU report, for
Europe and the reforms related to it are of fundamental importance
for the country’s development." That is what Turkish Foreign Minister
Ali Babacan says in a broad interview granted to Il Sole 24 Ore in
an aside at the Union for the Mediterranean Summit.

On the eve of the EU report that will be made public in Brussels
today [5 November] and that, according to well-informed diplomatic
sources, will contain stern criticism of Ankara over respect for
human rights in the Ergenekon (the Turkish Gladio) trial; of the
absence of an amendment to the Penal Code relating to the offence of
Turkish identity, which has allowed many trials of writers, including
the Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk; and of delays in the struggle
against corruption – Minister Babacan, 41, with an upbeat look and
a relaxed expression on his face, stresses Turkey’s course towards
European integration "at this critical moment in which the attitude
towards Turkey of some European partners (not Italy, which has always
backed us) has worsened. These, however, are cyclical developments
in a long and complex process that goes through ups and downs, just
as happened with Spain and Great Britain. The important thing is not
to lose sight of one’s long-term goals."

Still, Turkey’s admission is an opportunity for both partners, as
"Europe is strong by virtue of its diversity, its democratic values,
its rule of law, its tolerance, and its free market." Babacan says that
the trust in the reforms requested by Brussels remains unchanged, but
that the popularity of the Union is declining, having gone down from
75 per cent to 55 per cent. "The Turks feel that they are not being
accepted, and they emotionally respond with faltering enthusiasm."

As a great Muslim country, though secularized and democratic, in the
EU, Turkey would add "a major global force to the soft power [the
two preceding words in English] of the Union, expanding its culture,
values, and ethnic components. The EU would increase its influence on
areas like the Middle East, Central Asia, and the southern shores of
the Mediterranean, which was precisely the subject of our discussion in
Marseilles today," Babacan recalled, opining that "Turkey’s admission
to the Union goes precisely in this direction and Ankara has no hidden
agendas, but only the positive will to be an element of stability,
progress, and peace in the area."

Then the minister narrates an episode that was not made public:
"During the recent crisis in Georgia, Prime Minister Erdogan and
by flew to Moscow and met with Medvedev, Putin, and Lavrov whom we
informed directly (there were only the five of us) of our plan for
stability in the Caucasus. The initiative was a success, and now the
Russians share our approach to a solution that is based on diplomacy
and dialogue."

Babacan is about to leave for Rome and on to Prague in view of the
6-month Czech EU presidency, then to New York to inaugurate Turkey’s
installation as a non-permanent UN Security Council member.

"Through our cultural and historical links in the area, we are
making diplomatic efforts to promote relations between Azerbaijan
and Armenia, and for our part, to reopen a dialogue with Yerevan,
by starting projects for new gas pipelines and a rail network that
will run along the old Silk Route and will make it possible to link
Shanghai to London going through the Caucasus via Turkey." He does not
forget Afghanistan, as he says: "We have 800 soldiers there, have built
10 schools and 15 healthcare centres, and are involved in a difficult
process of mediation between the Afghanis and the Pakistanis, not to
mention our mediation efforts in Lebanon between Syria and Israel,
as well as over the Iranian nuclear dossier," the minister says.

As for Italian-Turkish relations, "they are excellent, and on 12
November a bilateral summit between the two governments will take place
in Izmir with the participation of the respective prime ministers,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Silvio Berlusconi, two politicians who are
have also been close personal friends for a long time.

Italy is Turkey’s third-biggest economic partner after Russia and
Germany, and there are excellent development prospects: "Trade
exchanges stood at $17 billion in 2007," and they are estimated to
go up to $20 billion in 2008. "We are two complementary economies,
and that is proved by the 659 Italian enterprises which – apart from
Finmeccanica, Unicredit, FIAT, ENI, and Indesit – operate in our
country: You have the design, technology, and know-how, whereas we
have low costs and good production capabilities. The economy, policy,
last year’s 515,000 Italian tourists, and culture unite us," Babacan
concludes, before leaving for Rome where today, together with Italian
Foreign Minister Frattini, he will attend the Italian-Turkish Forum.

THE ROUTE OF THE COUP D’ETAT
Vrej Aharonyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
07 Nov 08
Armenia

What Does The Map Of The Neo-Bolsheviks Testify To The area near
Myasnikyan Square was not accidentally chosen by the neo-Bolsheviks on
March 1, neither did the demonstrators spontaneously decide or ordered
to gather in that very day. That part of the capital city has many
times been "exploited" by the revolutionaries they have many times
held protest marches in that area owning every lane and cul-de-sac,
every tree and bush.

Have you ever thought why the leaders of the neo-Bolsheviks chose a
concrete route, before or during the demonstrations?

In this context to what extent was it logical to pass by the
Prosecutor’s and reach Myasnikyan-Shahumyan Square during the protest
march? What did the demonstrators demand from the Prosecutor’s at
that time? If you remember the Prosecutor’s didn’t interfere in the
active demonstrations, held in the Theatrical Square immediately
after the elections. Or why did they march to the Municipality? They
could put forward their demands in front of the government building,
the Constitutional Court, the National Assembly or the Presidential
Residence.

But no! The route of the march was specifically chosen. It was
elaborated by Levon’s followers, they took the map and thoroughly
planned their route.

Thus the protest-march starting from the Theatrical Square as a rule
crossed Northern Avenue, then near the Prosecutor’s and Shahumyan
Square reached Myasnikyan Square, then up to Vazgen Manukyan and
Mashtots streets. What was the sense of all this?

The thing is, by organizing marches through these streets the leaders
of the neo-Bolsheviks were familiarizing the demonstrators with the
locations, because lots of people were from the villages and they
didn’t know even the names of the streets and they were not familiar
with the very part of the city where the headquarter had already
planned to realize March 1-2 military actions.

Lets observe one episode from the interception of the telephone
conversation between the head of the pre-election headquarter Alik
Arzumanyan with Vahagn Hayotsyan on February 22, at 12.38 p.m.

A.A. "Are you up my friend?"

V.H. "Yes."

A.A. "What did you plan regarding the route?"

V.H. "Let me go through the map, later I will bring it."

A.A. "Just do something, because we are planning to meet at 1.00.

Let’s see what we are going to do."

The continuation of the conversation at 13.01 p.m.

V.H. "I’m coming. Before you finish I will bring the route."

A.A. "Yes because maybe we will change the place of the meeting."

This conversation testifies that the route of the protest marches
have been thoroughly planned, which means they had a conventional
map of the march, which we bring to our readers’ attention.

Thus on the map you can see the central area of "March 1" developments,
where Levon’s followers gathered, coming to Myasnikyan Square from
different parts of the capital city. It’s worth mentioning that when
the demonstrators where displaced from the Theatrical Square in the
morning of March 1, they were well aware, where should they go and at
what time should they go. And even those who didn’t or couldn’t go
to Shahumyan and Myasnikyan Squares through the Northern Avenue by
an organized march, they knew their route by heart and they reached
there. The areas, which the revolutionaries turned into barricades,
are shown on the map. There were barricades near French and Italian
Embassies, in Grigor Lusavorich and Italy streets, the demonstrators
have occupied and closed Grigor Lusavorich-Zakyan streets, Beirut
Street was also closed and barricaded. They have occupied the street,
which takes to Grigor Lusavorich from hotel "Metropol".

They have all gathered in front of Myasnikyan Square, from "VivaCell"
to the school after Mayakovsky and from the other side – to Mashtots
Avenue.

It’s worth mentioning that the demonstrators didn’t move forward by
their occupied territories, the direction took to Mashtots Avenue,
Paronyan, and Leo Streets.

And the most interesting thing is that the leaders of the
neo-Bolsheviks continued to stay near Myasnikyan Square and the more
aggressive ones, on which the authors of the coup d’état completely
relied, by the instruction of the leaders, moved to Mashtots Avenue,
Leo-Paronyan streets, that is to say the National Assembly and the
governmental country houses (where the plunder took place and people
were killed).

A question arises here, nevertheless why did they choose Myasnikyan
Square for "March 1" demonstration, which didn’t have demonstrational
traditions and was not comfortable for holding political
events. Matenadaran is a better place for similar initiatives.

The thing is the path taking to Baghramyan from Matenadaran was near
but very obvious and LTP didn’t want to open his cards in the middle
of the game."

–Boundary_(ID_RysLNwTNWqSMIuQ5vMOFZg )–

ARMENIAN LEADER ON EXPANDING TIES WITH EU, KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

Armenian Public TV
Nov 6 2008
Armenia

Excerpt from report by state-owned Armenian Public TV on 6 November

[Presenter] We are going live to Brussels where Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel
Barroso are currently holding a joint news conference. We invite you
to watch the news conference.

[Passage omitted: the start of the news conference announced]

[European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, speaking in English
with Armenian voice-over] I had an interesting meeting with Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan. We discussed both bilateral relations and
regional issues. Armenia is continuing to implement programmes of
the European Union Neighbourhood Policy. I congratulated President
Sargsyan on the reforms carried out in Armenia’s economic sphere. We
are ready to render assistance to Armenia in the implementation of
joint programmes on financial and political cooperation.

[Passage omitted: Barroso saying the European Union is going to send
a working group to Armenia to help it in the implementation of reforms]

[Manuel Barroso] We also discussed regional issues. We wish to
establish peace in the region. This is also an important region for
the European Union. We will do our best to pass from words to deeds. I
welcome Armenia’s positive response to Turkey’s intention to establish
stability in the Caucasus and bilateral dialogue between Yerevan and
Ankara. This can have a positive influence on ensuring security in the
Caucasus region, including the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict. This was the first step in settling the conflict within
the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.

[Passage omitted: Barroso says Europe is also interested in the
settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict]

[Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan] Dear ladies and gentlemen, my first
visit to Brussels in the capacity of president has come to an end. I
had different meetings during my two-day visit. I am holding my last
meeting with the president [of the European Commission Jose Manuel
Barroso] Enhanced Coverage LinkingJose Manuel Barroso] -Search using:
Biographies Plus News News, Most Recent 60 Days today. Prior to this,
I met the president of the country chairing the European Union –
France. I am happy that all the tasks set for me [during the visit]
have been carried out. Armenia wants to integrate into Europe and we
need help from our partners and the European Commission in order to
achieve this. We want our European partners to create more favourable
trading conditions for Armenia.

[Passage omitted: Sargsyan saying Armenia wants to expand its relations
with the European Commission]

[Announcer] Aleksanyan, Public TV from Armenia.

[Aleksanyan] Mr Barroso, the European Commission is currently helping
Georgia to tackle the outcome of the August events. Armenia has
also suffered losses from the August events which are estimated at
about 500m dollars. Are you planning to compensate Armenia for these
losses? Second, is the European Union going to simplify visa issuing
procedures for Armenian citizens?

[Manuel Barroso] We have discussed this issue with the Armenian
president as well. We have already presented a decision by the
commission to donors, and I told the Armenian president that we have
also included the whole region in the project, while discussing its
implementation in Georgia. As for simplifying visa issuing procedures,
we are going to discuss regional projects related to this, in which
Armenia can also be involved.

[Passage omitted: Barroso speaking about visa issuing procedure]

[Announcer] A correspondent of Turkish Zaman newspaper.

[Zaman newspaper reporter] Mr President, if you receive an invitation
from Turkey, how will you react to it? Mr Barroso, what is your
assessment of Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s visit to Armenia?

[Sargsyan] It would be strange for me if I receive such an invitation
from Turkey. Because, as you know, I have recently signed a declaration
with [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev in Moscow. According to
one of the provisions of the declaration, we agree that the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict should be resolved in the format of the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs. Unfortunately, Turkey is not a co-chair or member of
the OSCE Minsk Group [as heard; Turkey is a member of the OSCE Minsk
Group]. Despite this, I welcome any meeting with President Aliyev,
because all meetings between us, as I can see, lead to positive
decisions. [sentence as heard]

"MOSCOW MEETING OF THE PRESIDENTS MARKS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW STAGE"

AZG Armenian Daily
08/11/2008

Karabakh conflict

Turkish President Abdullah Gul announced that the presidents’ meeting
in Moscow marks the beginning of a new stage in the process of Karabakh
conflict settlement.

"I believe that the meeting marks the beginning of a new stage in
Karabakh conflict settlement", Abdullah Gul said after the meeting
with the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Gul also mentioned that Turkey supports the presidents’ meeting in
Moscow and "believes that the process will develop successively".

"We respect all the sides’ efforts put in that direction", Turkish
President underlined, according to "Armenpress"

NAGORNO-KARABAKH PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES BARACK OBAMA ON HIS ELECTION TO POST OF US PRESIDENT

ArmInfo
2008-11-06 15:36:00

ArmInfo. Nagorno-Karabakh President Bako Sahakyan has sent a
felicitation to US President-Elect Barack Obama.

The Karabakh presidential press-office quotes Sahakyan as saying:
"On behalf of people and authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,
I would like to cordially congratulate you as the 44th President of the
United States. Your victory at the election has become a real epoch
event in the history of the USA and world democracy. Artsakh highly
estimates the USA’s role in the Karabakh peace process and the annual
financial support rendered to the NKR by the United States". Sahakyan
also expressed confidence that now the ties between the USA and Artsakh
will become stronger and multilateral. He wished peace, happiness,
good health and prosperity to Obama and his relatives and friends.

DECLARATION

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
04 Nov 08
Armenia

Signed by the Presidents of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of
Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation

The Presidents of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan
and the Russian Federation, Meeting on November 2, 2008 in Moscow, at
the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation, Discussing,
in a constructive atmosphere, the current stage and prospects of the
Karabakh settlement process by the mediation of Russia, the United
States and France as mediators of the OSCE Minsk Group, and to that end

Using political methods and continuing the direct dialogue between
Armenia and Azerbaijan,

1. Declare that they will contribute to the amelioration of the
situation in the South Caucasus and ensure the establishment of
an atmosphere of stability and security in the region by way of
the political settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict based on
the norms and principles of international law and the decisions and
documents adopted within their frameworks, thus creating favorable
conditions for economic development and multi-lateral cooperation;

2. Reiterate the importance of continuing the intermediary efforts
of the Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, taking into consideration
their meeting with the parties organized in Madrid on November 29,
2007 and the subsequent discussions aimed at the further elaboration
of the fundamental principles of political settlement;

3. Agree that the peaceful settlement should be achieved by adhering
to all its aspects and the legally binding international guarantees;

4. Point out that the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to
continue the activities towards the coordination of the political
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, including the further
meetings on the top level, and recommended their Foreign Ministers to
make their further steps in the conflict settlement process more active
by way mutual cooperation with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group;

5. Attach importance to encouraging the process of promoting the
strengthening of the tools of confidence in the context of the efforts
towards the settlement of the conflict.

PRESS SERVICE OF THE PRESIDENT

NEW METHOD TO "RETURN BACK" ARMENIAN CITIZENS

Panorama.am
20:29 05/11/2008

In recent years it is remarkable a slow but stable tendency of citizens
of Armenia to return back to their home country. Gagik Eganyan,
the head of migration department of the Ministry of Territorial
Administration said that over 2000 citizens have applied to the
Ministry to return.

"Very often Armenians living abroad get informed from those Armenians
who have left the country and to justify their departure they present
every thing in dark colors," he said.

According to him the Government has drafted a project to
inform Armenians abroad fresh and verified information through
and web sites.

ONE OF THREE CANDIDATES FOR BERD MAYOR’S ELECTIONS WITHDRAWS HIS CANDIDATURE

Noyan Tapan

Nov 3, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. Revoting of community head elections
will be held on November 9 in the town community of Berd, Tavush
region and rural community of Odzun, Lori region, where the October
19 elections were invalidated by the decisions of the respective
district electoral commissions.

As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed by Abram Bakhchagulian, the
Secretary of the RA Central Electoral Commission, one of the three
candidates for Berd Mayor’s elections, non-partisan Ashot Melikian,
withdrew his candidature. Current Mayor receiving maximum votes on
October 19, RPA member Andranik Sharian, and non-partisan Hmayak
Adamian continue the electoral campaign in Berd and current village
head, RPA member Melik Ayvazian and non-partisan Arsen Titanian
in Odzun.